Is she seriously ill?

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I'd definitely make her a vet appointment asap. How long have you had her? What kind of bedding is she on? Do you know her age, weight? If you can't get her into your vet, do you have antibiotics in your medicine cabinet? Www.ratguide.com has some good info for meds you can use. Lilspaz or SQ may have different opinions or advice. They are certainly more experienced with this than I am. Hope she feels better soon!
 
lilspaz68 said:
That is very congested sneezing and if it hasn't moved into her lungs yet, it will soon. You'll need antibiotics to treat this sooner than later
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You're really good at picking up on that! All I could hear was a bunch of sneezing, and curious kiddos! LMAO
 
vet appointment asap with a good vet who has the knowledge and experience to treat rats
rats become ill and die fast without medical care

I hope they are soon on antibiotics (for at least 4 to 6 weeks) and are soon feeling better
 
Dena said:
I'd definitely make her a vet appointment asap. How long have you had her? What kind of bedding is she on? Do you know her age, weight? If you can't get her into your vet, do you have antibiotics in your medicine cabinet? Www.ratguide.com has some good info for meds you can use. Lilspaz or SQ may have different opinions or advice. They are certainly more experienced with this than I am. Hope she feels better soon!
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I've had for her about a month, and the previous owner said she was very young when I adopted her.
She is on kiln-dried pine shavings, and she was sneezing the same amount as depicted in the vids before I even got her. Her condition has not worsened over time or changed at all.
I don't know her age or weight, but she has gained weight since I got her. She eats and drinks.
I don't have antibiotics at the moment.
I just emailed my local vet.
Her sneezing comes and goes. What I filmed here is the very worst I've ever seen her. She has days where she only sniffles.
 
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You need to change her bedding ASAP. Rats should not be on pine or any soft woods. It can damage their respiratory system. I'd go with care fresh paper bedding, or fleece. That could very well be what's causing her breathing issues.
 
Even though Aspen shavings are semi-recommended I'd dump those shavings ASAP and switch to care fresh. I use Yesterdays News on the bottom of the cage floor then put a layer or two of care fresh over it and I throw some fleece in there as well, My rats have been much better since I switched.
 
She's likely had a low grade infection for a long time. These untreated infections can flare up and become very serious quickly or they can stay low grade for a long time while causing serious scarring in the lungs.
 
lilspaz68 said:
She's likely had a low grade infection for a long time. These untreated infections can flare up and become very serious quickly or they can stay low grade for a long time while causing serious scarring in the lungs.
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lung scaring accumulation may eventually make it so rats are unable to breath and will need to be put to sleep, so preventing this in the future by giving antibiotics necessary to heal is very important
 

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